Chapter 3 - THE MAN ETHAN TRUSTED MOST
Ethan did not remember leaving the hospital basement.
One second he was staring at Marcus Reed’s message.
The next he was in the corridor with Detective Ruiz shouting orders into her radio.
Dr. Hayes followed.
“Ethan.”
He kept walking.
“Ethan.”
Hayes grabbed his shoulder.
Ethan turned so violently the doctor released him.
“My daughter is inside my house with a man who has lied to me for seven years.”
“And charging in could get her hurt.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Everybody keeps telling me what I shouldn’t do.”
Ruiz approached.
“Then listen to what you can do.”
She held out her hand.
“Give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Marcus expects you to panic.”
“He expects you to call him, threaten him, promise him money, and drive straight home.”
“He knows your security system.”
“He knows your habits.”
“He knows every entrance to that house because you paid him to learn them.”
Ethan stared at her.
Ruiz continued.
“That means our first advantage is doing something he doesn’t expect.”
“What?”
“Trusting someone else.”
Ethan almost laughed.
He had trusted doctors who buried an empty coffin.
He had trusted Nora.
He had trusted Victor.
He had trusted Marcus.
Trust had cost him seven years with his daughter.
Ruiz read his face.
“You can hate the concept later.”
“Right now, Lily needs you to be smart.”
Ethan finally handed her the phone.
Ruiz photographed the messages and sent them to her tactical team.
Then she instructed Ethan to reply.
I HAVE THE LOCKET. WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Marcus responded almost immediately.
COME ALONE.
Ethan typed.
LET LILY SPEAK TO ME.
No response.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Then the phone rang.
Ruiz activated speaker mode.
Ethan answered.
“Marcus.”
A familiar voice came through.
Calm.
Controlled.
“Sir.”
That word made Ethan angrier than if Marcus had cursed him.
“Put Lily on.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
A rustle.
Then Lily’s frightened voice.
“Daddy?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“Are you okay?”
He nearly broke.
She was the hostage.
And she was asking about him.
“I’m fine.”
“Is Margaret with you?”
Lily whispered.
“She’s sleeping.”
Marcus interrupted.
“She’s alive.”
Ethan’s voice changed.
“If you hurt either of them—”
“I don’t want to hurt Lily.”
“Then walk out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Marcus said something Ethan did not expect.
“Because Victor has my son.”
Ruiz looked up.
Ethan frowned.
“Your son died.”
“That’s what I told you.”
Marcus exhaled shakily.
“My son is nineteen.”
“Victor has owned me since he was twelve.”
Ethan’s anger did not disappear.
But the shape of the betrayal changed.
“What did you do?”
“The lake house fire.”
The words landed heavily.
Ethan remembered Amelia’s note.
Do not trust the man who saved you from the fire.
“You started it.”
“Yes.”
“Then dragged me out.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor wanted you frightened.”
“Dependent.”
“He wanted me promoted.”
“And you helped him.”
“My boy was seven.”
Marcus’s voice broke for the first time.
“Victor had photographs.”
“School routes.”
“My ex-wife’s apartment.”
“I thought I could manage it.”
“I thought if I did what he asked, he would leave them alone.”
“He never did.”
Ethan stared at Ruiz.
“Where is your son now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Victor moved him three days ago.”
“Then why take Lily?”
“Because I need leverage.”
“Against me?”
“Against Victor.”
Ethan’s fist tightened.
“You’re using my seven-year-old daughter as leverage.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“You don’t know anything.”
Marcus remained silent.
Ethan continued.
“You know what it feels like to fear losing a child.”
“That makes this worse.”
A small sob came through the phone.
Lily.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Ethan nearly lost control.
Ruiz touched his arm.
Stay focused.
Ethan inhaled.
“What does Victor want with the locket?”
“The chip.”
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Amelia created it.”
“She told Victor there were two encryption keys.”
“He spent years trying to get the second location from her.”
“Where we promised forever.”
Ethan looked toward the note.
He knew the phrase.
Amelia had said it on their wedding day.
But they had made many promises.
At the chapel.
At the lake.
In a tiny apartment they rented before Ethan inherited the company.
Marcus continued.
“Victor thinks you know.”
“I don’t.”
“Then figure it out.”
A second voice appeared faintly in the background.
Margaret.
“Ethan…”
He leaned toward the phone.
“Margaret?”
She sounded weak.
“I’m okay.”
Then the call disconnected.
Ruiz immediately started moving.
“We can trace part of that.”
“It came through the manor.”
“I already know where he is.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He’s using the estate system.”
“The signal could originate anywhere connected to your network.”
Ethan looked at the floor plan on her tablet.
Blackwood Manor covered nearly forty thousand square feet.
Main residence.
Servants’ wing.
Underground wine storage.
Medical room.
Security room.
Garage.
Old tunnel.
Ethan froze.
“Old tunnel.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“What?”
“The estate used to have a service tunnel connecting the greenhouse to a maintenance road.”
“Sealed thirty years ago.”
“Or supposedly sealed.”
Marcus would know.
They approached from the south.
Ruiz’s tactical unit entered through the old maintenance road while Ethan stayed in an armored vehicle beyond the property line.
Again, he hated being told to stay behind.
Again, he obeyed because Lily had asked him to promise.
The first radio transmission came twelve minutes later.
“Tunnel open.”
“Recent tire tracks.”
Another voice.
“Interior breach in progress.”
Then gunfire cracked faintly through the radio.
Ethan stood.
Hayes grabbed him.
Ruiz shouted.
“Report.”
Static.
Then.
“One suspect down.”
“Not Reed.”
“Study clear.”
“No child.”
Ethan’s heart dropped.
Ruiz looked at him.
“Keep searching.”
Teams moved room by room.
They found Margaret in Ethan’s study.
Awake.
Bruised.
Furious.
But alive.
No Lily.
No Marcus.
Then an officer discovered a panel behind the wine cellar shelving.
A staircase descended beneath the foundation.
At the bottom was an old storm passage leading away from the estate.
Ethan had never known it existed.
On the floor lay Lily’s yellow hair ribbon.
Next to it was Marcus’s security badge.
And written on the wall in chalk were three words.
I REMEMBER MOMMY.
Ethan touched the message.
“Lily wrote this?”
Margaret, supported by a medic, nodded.
“She found chalk in your study before Marcus moved us.”
“She kept dropping clues.”
Ethan looked into the tunnel.
His daughter had been frightened.
But she had been thinking.
Watching.
Leaving a trail.
Ruiz crouched near the floor.
“Tire marks.”
“Small vehicle.”
“Probably utility cart.”
She followed them.
Two hundred yards later, the tunnel ended near a wooded road.
A black SUV was gone.
But Marcus had left something behind.
A prepaid phone.
One video.
Ruiz played it.
Marcus appeared on screen.
Lily sat beside him.
Unharmed.
Marcus looked exhausted.
“If you’re watching this, Victor’s people are already hunting me.”
“I’m taking Lily somewhere he cannot reach easily.”
“I know you won’t believe me, Ethan.”
“But I am not giving her to him.”
Lily looked toward Marcus.
He nodded.
She faced the camera.
“Daddy, I’m okay.”
Then she held up a drawing.
A lake.
A wooden dock.
A white house.
Ethan stared.
Their old lake property.
The place where Marcus had once saved him from the fire.
Marcus continued.
“Bring the locket.”
“Bring no police.”
“If you want Amelia alive, you need to understand something.”
“Victor didn’t keep her for seven years because he was afraid she would testify.”
“He kept her because Amelia Blackwood hid proof of something much bigger than murder.”
Marcus looked directly into the camera.
“Blackwood Industries doesn’t belong to Victor.”
Then he paused.
“It doesn’t belong to you either.”
The video ended.
Ethan stared at the black screen.
Margaret spoke first.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Ethan looked at Lily’s drawing again.
At the lake.
At the white house.
At the place Amelia once told him she wanted to grow old.
And suddenly he remembered the words she had whispered on the dock the night before their wedding.
If everything disappears tomorrow, promise me we’ll still choose each other here.
He had answered.
Forever.
May you like
The second key was at the lake house.
And Marcus was already taking Lily there.
